Canada Disk Encryption: eHealth Data Breach Launches Internal Review

According to cjme.com, eHealth Saskatchewan started a security review after computers to be disposed were mistakenly picked up by a computer refurbishing company. It's incidences likes these that not only highlight the importance of drive encryption software like AlertBoot but show why encryption software is a valuable foundation on which to build an organization's data security policies.

eHealth Saskatchewan said the computers were slated for recycling or reuse but were accidently collected by a computer refurbishing company....

So far, 32 of the hard drives have been recovered and are being analysed to determine if any personal health information was stored on the.According to an initial inspection of the machines, no data had been accessed after the computers were picked up, the government said.

The story suggests not only that the hard drives were not removed, but that the data on them were not erased.

Further compounding the issue is that a total of 44 computers were taken by the refurbishing company, meaning some hard drives have yet to be recovered.

This is why full disk encryption is valuable. Unlike other data security solutions (for example, data loss protection software), disk encryption can be in place, and in force, until that point when a hard drive is crushed to pieces. (The story also shows why you might want to keep in disk encryption in place until the very end).

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About sang_lee

Sang Lee is a Senior Account Manager and Security Analyst with AlertBoot, Inc., the leading
provider of managed endpoint security services, based in Las Vegas, NV. Mr. Lee helps with the deployment and ongoing
support of the AlertBoot disk encryption managed service.
Prior to working at AlertBoot, Mr. Lee served in the South Korean Navy. He holds both a B.S. and an M.S. from Tufts
University in Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.